Competition Tribunal conditionally approves intermediate merger

We are pleased to announce that on 8 November 2012 the Competition Tribunal conditionally approved the intermediate merger involving Senmin International, a subsidiary of AECI Limited and Cellulose Derivatives. Accordingly the parties agreed to effectively implement the transaction as of 1 December 2012.

Standfirst: Senmin of South Africa is the sole local manufacturer of chemicals used for the beneficiation and flocculation of a wide range of ore bodies.

With a history that dates back to the late 1950s, Senmin International of South Africa is a mining chemicals manufacturer and services provider. Senmin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of specialty chemicals and explosives specialist AECI International of South Africa.

Senmin maintains headquarters in Johannesburg and a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sasolburg. With a workforce in the order of 400, the company services Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, DRC and Botswana in addition to South Africa, and is branching out into Morocco, Ghana, Tanzania and Madagascar.

Following a merger with Chemserve in 2005, Senmin was taken over by AECI and is now part of the parent company’s Chemical Cluster that provides materials and services across a broad spectrum. Senmin leads the way for AECI’s venture into mining chemicals.

“Our current main market is within Africa but our aspirations are beyond our borders to the big mining areas such as South America and Australasia,” says Technical Director Dr. Patrick Dicks, who holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Port Elizabeth. Dr. Dicks came to Senmin in the merger with Chemserve after having previously worked in the company for ten years and prior to that at a mining research organisation, namely MINTEK; also for ten years.

Innovation drives use of biotechnology in flocculation process

Technical Director Dr. Patrick Dicks -- “The polyacrylamide plant is the first time in the world on an industrial scale where biotechnology is being used in the manufacturing process. It’s a zero effluent plant with energy consumption that is considerably lower than original process.”